10 Answers
10

Your question reveals a mindset about debit cards that simply doesn't exist in the US. Here, bank accounts came first, many many decades before anyone dreamed of electronic transactions. Thus, people have debit cards because they have bank accounts, not the other way around. You don't go out and get a debit card; you go out and open an account at a bank. This also means that you simply don't talk about refilling a debit card, because it was never filled in the first place.

You can say something like "I need to put money in my account" or "I need to go to the bank to make a deposit", but at no point would you mention your debit card, any more than you would mention your car keys when you're planning to drive somewhere.

There are some debit-card-like things that do have an upper limit and can be "refilled" — store gift cards, whatever they're calling food stamps nowadays, MetroCards, that sort of thing — but they're not called "debit cards", at least not without qualification.

There are segments of the population that use a card with no associated bank account. These Stored Value cards are given as gifts to the young, used to pay wages by some employers to those who choose not to open a bank account, and used to give unemployment benefits in some U.S. states.
–
rajah9Nov 30 '12 at 15:57

Stored value cards are a recent development, the popularity of which is pertinent to the apps generation not boomers. e.g., foodstamps are now ebt debit cards - they get topped-up or refilled by the govt every month.
–
Blessed GeekNov 30 '12 at 17:52

4

+1 Well said. This also applies to many other countries, probably to most. We don't "fill up" debit cards in Holland either: a card is just a way to access your account. Gift cards and pre-paid cards are called that, not debit cards.
–
CerberusNov 30 '12 at 20:01

If this a debit card that is linked to an existing account, you might say you were "adding funds to my account" or "making a deposit."

If this is a Stored Value card (perhaps bought from the store or used to disburse wages), then several providers say add funds to my card (e.g., Walmart). At Cardrex you may reload your card.

Square 1 calls itself a "Stored Value Debit Card provider." (These are neither mass transit cards nor store gift cards. They bear a MasterCard or Visa logo and I believe that this may be what the OP was aiming for.) It asks in its FAQ, "How Do I Put Money On My Square 1 Stored Value Card?"

The company refers to it as "Stored Value Debit Card."
–
KrisDec 1 '12 at 12:33

1

Yes, assertions to the contrary, Square 1 calls it a Stored Value Debit card. It is not linked to a traditional bank account. The answer to the FAQ I quote above says "As a Square 1 Cardholder you have multiple options to loading (adding) funds to your Square 1™ Stored Value Debit Card. You can...arrange to have money placed on your Square 1™ Stored Value Debit Card." So there are several answers for the OP: Put Money on, loading, add funds to, have money placed on.
–
rajah9Dec 2 '12 at 22:38

You can edit-in that detail into your answer for all to see.
–
KrisDec 3 '12 at 7:01

1

Like I said, "...but they're not called 'debit cards', at least not without qualification."
–
MarthaªDec 3 '12 at 14:41

Kris, edited as requested. @Martha, I agree that there is a qualification. And I concede that debit cards preceded stored value debit cards. I am seeing the usage of "debit card" shifting diachronically ("debit card" only introduced in 1983/7, depending on whether you believe the Danes or the Brits; Stored Value cards mid 90s). Common usage is blurring into the notion that a piece of plastic with a mag stripe, 16 digits, and a Visa logo is a debit card. The stored value card walks and quacks like a debit card; in the collective mind of Gen iPod, it is a debit card.
–
rajah9Dec 3 '12 at 15:04

Do you really use any of these, in the USA, in reference to debit cards?
–
MarthaªNov 30 '12 at 15:46

1

I know of some cards that are used that way - the money is credited directly to the card, not to a bank account that you can use in the traditional sense. Starbucks and Walmart are two examples of that kind of card. (Call them gift or debit card, they're basically the same thing. I have a Starbucks card I use myself - though I enjoy the lattes, it's not really a "gift" card). :-)
–
Kristina LopezNov 30 '12 at 15:55

2

"top-up" is a common UK term, which I've never heard in the US.
–
YamikuronueNov 30 '12 at 19:30

3

"So people on ELU think anything spoken outside the US is not English." I think that ELUers in Australia, NZ, UK and the US can all get an occasional surprise to learn that something sounding distinctively foreign is actually quite common in another part of the world. More often than not, though, we find it interesting, and appreciate the chance to expand our knowledge and horizons. I'm not aware of any allegations that "anything spoken outside the US is not English."
–
J.R.Dec 1 '12 at 20:17

2

@Kris, in addition to what J.R. said, this question is specifically about US English.
–
MarthaªDec 2 '12 at 16:22

I have a debit card and the bank's web site refers to this as "depositing to the debit card". I also work with a company that sells gift cards, which are essentially store-specific debit cards, and they refer to this as "incrementing the card" internally and as "adding to the card" when talking to customers.

I have a pre-paid cell phone and the phone company talks about "refilling the account".

It is also common to talk about "crediting an account", though this is perhaps a bit more generic.

In short, I don't think there's a single, consistently-used phrase in English. All of the above are used and understood.

"Debit credit card" sounds like a contradiction in terms: is it a debit card (you're spending your own money) or a credit card (you're spending the issuer's money)?
–
MarthaªNov 30 '12 at 20:53

@Marthaª: If I had to venture a guess, I think there's a missing "/" there; i.e.: "it is common to reload your debit/credit card," where "debit/credit card" refers to, say, any number of reloadable prepaid Visa cards.
–
J.R.Nov 30 '12 at 21:30

In these situations I say that I deposited cash (or a check) into my bank account. It's implicitly understood that your debit card is linked to your bank account, so the debit card itself isn't mentioned.